Sword Art Online Drekiheim
by The Superior Dragon Knight
Summary: In the lush and bountiful land of dragons. Draco has lost all memory of who he is, all he knows is that a demonic entity named Malefor has stolen his memories, placed them into his 7 Spawn, and made Drekiheim a death game for him. With no memory of who he is, Draco must dive into the dangerous world of Drekiheim inorder to recover his identity. First Fanfic
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1- Draco

A throbbing pain in my head pulsed, louder and louder as I progressed to awaken. As my eyes open, my vision blurs black for a moment all I can see are shapes and shadows, finally after a moment, my vision atunes to my surroundings to revel a lush green forest, with sunlight pouring threw the canopy.

Groggily, I rose to my feet. I looked around the lushes scenery, rubbing my head as I collected my thoughts. "Damn, where am I?" I asked myself.

Suddenly my head pulsed with pain, a few broken images flashed in my mind and the words **VRMMORPG **and **Drekiheim, **making me fall to my knees from the intense pain I was feeling.

After a few moments, the images along with the pain soon vanished. I then remembered where I was. I was in a virtual reality massive multiplayer online role playing game called Drekiheim, a beautiful and bountiful land of dragons, but had no memory of how I got here.

Since the memory I received gave me the identity of my location it also bestowed me the knowledge of the menu mechanics. I summoned the main menu and proceeded to scroll through the menu options and found what I was looking for, my character bio.

I opened the option and a small character screen appeared infront of me, working similar to a mirror as it showed me who I was. The young man I was staring at was about 17, maybe 18, was American, had lightly colored skin with a slight tan, snow white hair, deep oceanic blue eyes, and a impressive physical build that was fit but not buff.

My attire consisted of a set of impressive steel plated armor, with a brown leather belt that had a bronze belt buckle. Above all that was my name, _Draco. _Frowning my eyebrows, I swiped my finger across the menu and proceeded to my profile page. All that I found was that I was from the United States and my username.

After as few more scrolls, my irritation growing with each scroll, I decided to log off this world in order to find out who I was. As I reached the main menu options, I discovered a blank space, presumably were the log out button used to be. Panic began to well up inside me,'This must be a mistake, maybe its in the gameplay options.' I thought to myself. As I select the gameplay option menu, again there was an empty space where the log out used to be, much to my dismay.

My eyes widen in shock and I collapse to the ground in utter shock, "Why can't I log out? Why am I here... and who am I?" I asked myself.

**"Having a moment of despair are we? This isn't like you my dear boy." **cackled a demonic voice.

I glanced around in surprise and demanded, "Who's there?"

**"Ahh, a little amnesia, perfect." **purred the demonic voice.

Instinctively, I shivered at the malicious purr of the voice, it continued,** "I am guessing you wish to know who you are? Well here is all you need to know, you have been a thorn in my side long enough so I took the pleasure of stealing your memories. My, what happy ones they were too."  
**

A snarl escaped my lips as the demonic voice mocked,**" As hopeless as this my seem to you, there is a way to regain what is lost to you."**

This comment caught my attention, I stop glancing around and stare at the ground.**" I presume I have caught your attention? Here is all you need to know, head to the town of Yorike, there you will find the start of your quest to recover your memories." **the voice finished.**  
**

"Might I ask who you are?" I asked in a curious tone, frowning my eyebrows.

The voice cackled demonically, making me shift uncomfortably, after a moment of eerie silence he answered,**" I am.. Malefor."**

That said, I felt a strange presence lift from me. As if I had been watched. Whatever cruel joke Malefor was pulling, it wasn't funny. Something about him made me coarse with anger, and... fear.

I shook my head, and looked around the forest. Malefor said something about heading to a town called Yorike to begin a quest to "retrieve what I had lost" whatever that means. Then, I realized I could summon my map and place a waypoint on its location, then travel there on foot.

I enlarge my map from my top right hand corner, and scroll around the map. The location I was presently in was called Morsan Woods, and Yorike was approximately 50 miles away from my position, due north. I marked the town with a green waypoint and exited out of the map, making it shrink back to its normal size back at the top right hand corner of my vision.

Looking around the forest, I trudged onward, straight toward the marked waypoint.

Later on as I passed deeper into the forest, the lushness of the woods began to dull into a grey depressing scenery. With fog looming over my head in the treetops. Suddenly, a noise caught my attention. A gravelly, grotesque growl sounded from the mist in the fog.

I feel around my waist and realize I do not have a weapon. I quickly summoned my menu and selected my equipment option then to my weapons list. I had only one weapon and it was a ordinary one handed steel sword with a DAM rating of 32, and a fire enchantment of 14. The swords name was **Flametooth**.

As I equipped the sword, it appeared at the right hand side of my waist in a black leather scabbard decorated with silver dragon emblems, the handle itself was wrapped with thick brown leather. As I grabbed the sword handle with my left hand, and pulled the sword out of the scabbard, it exited with a loud _SHIING _and fire enveloped the blade for a moment before dispersing in a cloud of black smoke.

The growling, grew closer as the fog reveled a hulking beast, many times larger than myself, with dull green skin. The beast itself faintly resembled a human, it was slightly hunched over, bipedal, had long arms that reached down to its knees, two thick legs that looked more like tree trunks rather than human feet that sported three dirty yellow toe nails on the stumps, the most peculiar, and terrifying, feature of this creature was its one large red eye that rested in the center of its face that was placed over a wide fanged mouth that sported two long yellow tusks. The creatures name read,** Cyclops.**

The beast gazed down at me stupidly, drool falling down the sides of its mouth, before roaring and charging at me, hands outstretched down toward me. The very ground shook as the beast made its onslaught, however, I dodge to the right and avoided the grapple attack.

The Cyclops slowly heaved its body around and this time preformed a back hand attack that knocked me and several small trees backwards. The world around me spiraled out of control and the pain of me striking the ground was prominent as I hit it many times as I bounced across the forest. After finally slamming into the ground a final time on my stomach, I flopped onto my back and groaned," That hurt."

I glanced up at my health, which had receded to halfway. I shakily rose to may feet, still battered by the Cyclops's attack. Then the sound of thundering footsteps sounded behind me as the Cyclops stomped after me, roaring hungrily. Luckily, I still had Flametooth in my hand, I was surprised I didn't lose it as the beast slapped me away with its powerful attack.

The Cyclops attacked once again but this time, I dodged under him and ran inbetween his legs, making him look down after me. Seeing an opportunity, I clambered onto his back, climbing up its back towards its head and stabbed my sword into its neck. The Cyclops roared in pain as black blood, gushed out of the wound and flowed down the beasts neck to the ground. The Cyclops roared in anger and tried to swat me off its back, I hook my hand onto its collar bone and pulled Flametooth out of its neck. As Flametooth was pulled out of the Cyclops's neck, more blood gushed out, making a waterfall of blood flow down the Cyclops's neck.

I then pulled myself forward and lunged forward toward the head. Landing on the back of the creatures neck, I pulled my sword up above my head and drove it into the creatures eye, making the creature scream in agony. I looked up at the creatures heathbar and witnessed it hit yellow as it fell halfway. And I also noticed its level said 18.

However, while I was distracted with the Cyclops's health and level, the beasts flailing left hand managed to slap me off its head, knocking me to the ground. As Flametooth ripped out of the beasts eye socket it yanked out its one eye, skewering it on his long blade. The Cyclops howled in pain and agony, blindly stomping around. I recover to my feet and glared at the blinded beast and glanced down at the impaled eye on my sword. Enveloping Flametooth in a coat of fire, it singed the skewered eye and turned it into ash in the wind.

Without a moment to spare, I charged forward and stabbed the Cyclops in its left leg making the beast roar in pain and balance on its one uninjured leg, which I sliced into the calf of its leg making it fall backward. The Cyclops landed with a crash, as if a large tree had just fallen in the forest. While the creature lied on its back, still grasping its head in pain, I jumped up into the air and landed onto its writhing chest. With a battlecry I lifted my sword and stabbed it in its chest, right into its heart.

The Cyclops stopped writhing around, it froze in place. I looked up at its healthbar and saw that it had struck zero. I looked back down and pulled my sword from its chest, doing so made the creature disperse into a cloud of light fragments, making me fall to the ground beneath me.

I blew a sigh of relief and fatigue when a message then appeared infront of my face that said

**Congratulations **

**You have leveled up to level 19**

**You have received the following items**

**2x Cyclops Tusk**

**1x Cyclops Hide**

**1x Eye of the Beholder**

I raised an eyebrow in surprise as I read that I was level 19,'So that means me and the big guy were the same level' I thought.

I then sheathed Flametooth, and exited from the notification message before trekking my way back to my path to Yorike.

XXX

After finally making it at the edge of the woods I covered my eyes as the intensity of the sunlight struck them with a stinging pain. Once the pain disappeared, I slowly unshielded my eyes, allowing them to adjust to the sunlight, and my mouth opened in awe. The scenery was beautiful, the view was very unexpected. Miles ahead of him was the town of Yorike, a spectacular castle scenery, surrounded by rolling green hills with a autumn orange forest bordering its left walls.

After taking in the wondrous scenery, I shook my head in recovery and trotted down the hill toward my destination.

As I entered the outer gates, the center of the town reveled many other players like him. MANY more players like him. I glanced around at the stone work buildings around me, all ranging in different styles. Some dirty and ruined, while the inns and shops were clean and well decorated. It was very clear that Yorike was a popular player hangout, with over a 300 players walking and conversing in the rich colored brownish gold stone streets.

As I began to explore the town, several player girls glanced over at me, then began to giggle as they saw me. I raised an eyebrow to this but continued on my exploration of the town. As I passed several other players, many of them ranged from different levels and looks.

The first player that passed me had a scruffy face, he wore blue bandanna, a set of iron armor, a shirt underneath his armor, and white pants with a jagged greatsword at his back. His level was 10. I shook my head, knowing he wouldn't last a minute against many of the monsters in the game.

The next player was a rather large male with a bright green robe, and wielded a wooden staff. He was obviously a wizard, but his level was no different from the previous player. He was level 14.

I suddenly bumped into a warrior in all black, as we recovered from our collision I looked into his young face, he was about my age, his face was fairly handsome but not one of the best looking guys around, he had short black hair, black eyes, wore a long black trenchcoat, black pants, shirt, and a steel chestplate, greaves, and black gloves.

I shook my head as he apologized," Sorry about that I wasn't paying attention."

"Its fine I wasn't either." I growled as I rubbed the side of my head.

His level was bellow mine by 4. But his equipment was fairly good.

He friendly introduced himself," My names Kirito. What yours?"

"Draco." I simply replied in a serious tone.

Kirito raised an eyebrow and teased," Draco, that's an odd name."

I glared at him intensely, which made him smile and hold his hands up," Hey, I was just messing around." he then changed the subject and commented," I'm guessing your new around here?"

"Ya, you can say that." I replied.

"I can see that. You just barely started the game. But I just received a main quest." Kirito said.

"Main quest?" I asked curiously.

"My main quest is to find out what happened to the dragons. You do know everyone has this quest right." Kirito asked.

"Yes I know that. But right now I have a quest of my own." I replied in irritation.

Kirito raised an eyebrow and asked," What kind of quest."

This guy was really starting to get on my nerves before I realized that message appeared infront of my face. It read.

**So you made to Yorike. Very good but you aren't finish yet, you are just getting started. If you still want answers travel to the Twilight Cathedral and defeat Tiamat the Bat Queen. She will give you the first pieces of the puzzle. Oh, and a word of warning, others maybe able to die here, but you can't. This is a death game to you now. If you die here... you die in the real world. Hm, good luck, you'll need it runt.**

**Malefor**

I stared dumbfoundedly at the message, 'If I die here I die in real life. What did I do to Malefor to make him do such a thing?' I asked myself in shock.

" Is something wrong?" Kirito asked, looking at me with concern.

" I'm fine." I lied as I recovered from my shock

I summoned my map and located the Twilight Cathedral, located north-west from Yorike about 126 miles away. As I marked it, Kirito pressed on," You know I can help you if you want."

I stopped for a moment and thought.' He could help me. But do I really want this smart ass to party up with me. Besides he doesn't look special to me, probably die as soon as we leave the gates.'

I stifled a sigh and replied," Alright."

Kirito smiled and extended a hand," What makes you think you can help me?" I asked him.

" Because I won't leave a man behind." he replied.

I stared at his hand in thought before smirking and taking his hand in a powerful grip." Alright."

**End of chap one, so what do you think. First of all I do not own SAO, and second the names Malefor and Tiamat might sound familiar and I am merely borrowing them so there for I do not own them.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Tiamat the Bat Queen

Kirito and I leave the busseling town of Yorike and make out way toward the Twilight Cathedral in the distance. A large black tower, up in the mountains, surrounded by black fog. While finding research on the Tiamat, I found out she was a creature called a Spawn. Powerful high level bosses that have been dubbed as the Spawn due to being the spawn the Master of Drekiheim.

As we traveled, the blue sky faded into a sickly grey. The green region around us changed drastically as it morphed into a stony barren wasteland. Several different hideous creatures stalked along the rocks of the wasteland, a grotesque creature called a Nightstalker, looking like the fusion of a rattlesnake and a coyote, passed us by making Kirito grab his sword handle in preparation for a fight.

The Nightstalker merely hissed, flicking its snake tongue out angrily, as it bolted into a small crevice in the rocks. To add to the eerie scenery, the wind howled loudly as the chilling breeze struck me in the arm, sending a shiver up my spine.

After traveling for thirty more minutes, we were silent. For some reason, it bothered me to travel with Kirito, like I was meant to be alone. Kirito wasn't much different from me, racial wise. He did, however, have a lighter skin tone then me. As we began to travel a little ways further Kirito suddenly popped off, "Why are we heading to the Twilight Cathedral?"

I froze in my tracks at the sudden question, Kirito looked back at me with a concerned expression. He seemed to sense something." Just... after a rare item." I lied resuming my pase.

"Oh, what weapon is that?" Kirito asked, frowning his eyebrows suspiciously.

"A rare sword." I lied again.

I quickly changed the subject," So is this your first VRMMORPG?"

Kirito eyes hardend and he replied bitterly," No, my first one was a game called Sword Art Online."

The tone of his voice made me glance back at him, he wore a look of sadness and pain. ' What the hell's wrong with him all of the sudden?' I thought to myself.

"Go on." I asked curiously, stopping in my tracks to listen to his story.

That's was when I learned about the events that occurred in Sword Art Online. The first VRMMORPG to ever be made, which was released in Japan only. Kirito explained the hell he had gone through in his two years trapped in the death game. At the mercy of a man named Akihiko Kayaba, the creator of the game. Kirito also explained to me how Kayaba saw the lives of the players as mere play things, a means to an end just so he can live in the world he created. Even though I never met that man, I felt an intense hatred to him. Not because I remember him or anything, just the fact he had killed innocent people just to live in a fake world.

Kirito finally finished his story," He's dead now. But not here in the game world. He lives on in the system."

I stood in silence as Kirito finished his story, what really caught my attention was the "Death Game" bit. Is this what Kirito had to experience. The thought of dying and never coming back?

Kirito once again looked at me with a suspicious look,"Are you sure nothings wrong?"

Before I could answer his comment with another lie, as luck would have it, we reached the entrance to The Twilight Cathedral Tower. The giant black iron doors were decorated with a carvings of a dragonlike bat, and with two iron handles hanging from there jaws.

I looked up into the dreary sky, and felt a... evil presence staring down at me. Kirito suddenly appeared next to me and opened the doors. "Come on." he motion drawing his sword.

I unsheathed Flametooth and proceeded to follow Kirito into the tower, it was a large throne room style tower, decorated in all black marble, with several batlike statues hugging the pillars. Towards our right was a wide black, stone stair case, which presumable lead up the tower to the top of the cathedral.

Suddenly, a screech sounded and a bat shaped shadow hovered infront of a paint glass window of a dragonlike bat, then flew up towards the top of the tower.

I growled in determination and charged up the cathedral steps, hearing Kirito exclaim about how we need to stay together.

As I barged though the doorway to the top of the Cathedral I look around vigorously for the boss, trying to locate her. Suddenly, Kirito appeared beside me and exclaimed, "What the hell were you thinking?! Do you think you can just handle this boss alone?!"

I looked over at him in annoyance, and opened my mouth to snark off a comment when a gravel, hoarse voice grunted, "So this is the whelp who's memories I hold captive? My, my you are so very young to be trapped here."

Me and Kirito looked up over at the nearby bell tower at the far edge of the Cathedral and gasped in surprise. Resting on top of the tower was a giant monstrosity that resembled a large bat but also resembled a dragon due to her quadrupedal stature. The monster Tiamat hoped around the tower and flapped down to the duo. Making Kirito raise his weapon threateningly.

"The Black Swordsman. Begone you, this doesn't involve you." Tiamat snorted, making Kirito's eyes widen and jaw fall open at the supposed AI's monsters intelligence.

Tiamat made a gravelly grunting noise similar to a laugh before continuing on me. "So you have come here for your memories, am I correct. Tell me, what is it that you have done to anger someone like my master in order to receive such a difficult fate."

I glared up at Tiamat as she began to circle me and Kirito," What is she talking about Draco?" Kirto asked.

I didn't responded, making Tiamat growl," Oh, you haven't told your little friend. My, you are strong willed. Go ahead tell him."

Kirito looked at me expectingly, but again I didn't answer making Tiamat snarl," Oh I love the strong silent type. Ah, anyway back to the business at hand. You want your memories but in order to receive them you must kill me... or so you think."

I tighten my grip around Flametooth as Tiamat stopped infront of the two heroes," You see if you are for sale perhaps we could strike a... DEAL."

Kirito growled and tightened his grip around his black sword. I simply stared into the ugly bat monsters face and retorted," You won't like my terms." raising Flametooth.

Tiamat narrowed her eyes and screeched," Very well."

**Cliffhanger, sorry but I am tired so I'll publish the next chapter as soon as I can. Later folks.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 First Piece of the Puzzle

Tiamat narrowed her eyes and screeched,"Very well!"

Tiamat rears back onto her backlegs and screeches in fury. Kirito and I raise our swords as Tiamat raised into the air, with a powerful flap she dashed forward and began to circle the tower."Listen, I'll get her attention and attack from the front, you attack from behind." Kirto ordered.

I glared at Kirito,'Why does he think I'm helpless, this is my fight not his.'. Then I wanted to face palm myself,'Damn it I knew I shouldn't have brought him along.'

Tiamat suddenly dove forward, screeching in fury as she dived down at us in blinding speed. Kirito managed to jump out of the way but Tiamat managed to smack me aside with a shoulder check as she pulled back up into the air. As I fly backwards and slam into one of the iron spikes of the tower, Tiamat circled closer to the tower and mocked,"And you hope to kill me and take back your memories. You are nothing, a common insect compared to my power."

I shake my head and rised to my feet, with Kirito trying to help me. I simply shouldered him aside, making him stare at me in concern. I looked over to the side of the ledge and saw how close Tiamat was. Thinking of a plan, I waited for the right moment for Tiamat to circle closer. She continued mocking me,"You should have considered my offer."

As Tiamat flapped right into my attack position, I dashed forward, hearing Kirto exclaim behind me as I leaped over the edge. Tiamat looked up I surprise as I landed on her fleshy humped back and stabbed Flametooth into her flesh, black stinking blood oozed out of the wound. Tiamat screeched in pain and climbed higher into the sky, with me holding onto my embedded sword for dear life. As she began to barrel role in the sky, I grabbed a handful of matted dirty hair and pulled myself forward, and stabbed her in her wingsockets.

Tiamat screamed in pain, as stabbed into her wingjoints over, and over again. Black blood covered my armor and face, some of it spattered into my mouth and almost made me let go from the foul, bile tasting blood. Tiamat hissed and rolled upside down, making me hang off of her back, with Flametooth slowly sliding out of her flesh.

"Crap!"

Tiamat grunted a gravelly laugh as she thought this was my end. Growling in frustration, I grabbed Flametooth with both my hands and pulled it out, as I fly backwards from the force of the wind I reach out my free hand and grabbed ahold of Tiamats long rat tail, making her snarl in surprise. Sheathing Flametooth I slid underneath her tail and shimmied up to her stomach, Tiamat snarled in annoyance and dived down toward the tower, trying to scrap me off.

The world around below me comes up quickly, as we neared the ground Tiamat pulled up and the metal floor of the tower barely grazed my back. Tiamat snarled in frustrastion and climbed high, before banking back around and diving back to the tower. Once again, trying to scrap me off.

As we neared the tower, I noticed Kirito had is sword up to his face, his eyes were closed, and was murmering into the sword. As if he was praying.'Damn useless little-' I cut off in thought as Kirito's sword enveloped in fire similar to Flametooth but slightly weaker. He pointed the sword forward and a large fireball exploded out of the sword, striking Tiamat in the face.

Tiamat screamed in pain and in the process twisted around, slamming onto the tower on her back rather than scrapping me off like a insect. Due to the full force of Tiamat crashing onto the tower, I flew forward off her stomach and recovered in mid air, landing on my feet beside Kirito.

'Well maybe he isn't as useless as I thought.' I thought to myself as Kirito readied himself in a battle stance beside me, a serious determine look on his face.

Tiamats health was halfway gone, in the yellow zone, but she wasn't down yet. She screeched in rage and bounded forward. Kirito pulled his sword back and slash upwards, slicing a large bloody gash across Tiamats face, sending her sliding backwards.

She snarled and lapped at the blood dripping from her wound before snarling sadistically at Kirito,"You think your a hero. You think you can help him." she glared over at me, making Kirito narrow his eyes."You do not know who he is, or what he has down to earn such a fate and yet you would risk your life to save his. I hope you know that you are nothing to my master Malefor, you are nothing more than a pest, an annoying rock that will be kicked out of his way if you proceed to help this whelp."

Kirito continued to glare at her threw narrowed eyes before retorting,"Let him try."

Tiamat's eyes widen in surprise before she guaffing,"Oh ho ho, really?" she grinned, revealing jagged, misshaped fangs,"He is not like that pathetic man Kayaba, or the coward Sugho. And certainly no like Death Gun. Whatever challenges you faced in those other worlds are nothing compared to the hell my master will unleash on you... and your loved ones."

Kiritos eyes widen in surprise at Tiamats threat, whatever he was thinking clear distracted him from the fight. Tiamat, sensing a opportunity, bounced off her front legs like a excited horse and barreled forward, attempting to ram Kirito. I glanced over at him and yelled,"Move."

Kirito instantly snapped out of it and dodged to the side, narrowly evading Tiamats attack. Then gave her a powerful thrust in the neck, making Tiamat reel back in pain, grasping her neck as blood began to ooze from her the wound, and drip to the ground.

I was impressed by Kirtos fighting skills, he is good. Focusing back on the fight, I realized Tiamat was preparing another charge. I stood my ground and prepared to dodge when something in my mind told me to parry the strike. At that moment a broken memory flashed in my face, similar to a tutorial explaining the skill Parry Counter.

As the memory ended, I stared down blankly at the ground as Tiamat charged forward. Kirito shouted something that I just blocked out as I frowned my eyebrows in determination. I bring my sword into a block position and perfectly block Tiamats attack, feeling the DAM and force of her attack coarse through my sword, I throw her head aside and leap up into the air up to her face as she turns to face me with a snarl. As Tiamats attack flowed threw my sword into my left fist, I punched her in the face, orange black energy exploded from the impact. Sending her sailing backwards screeching as she backfliped across the roof of the tower and landed on her stomach.

Kirito, who must have stopped in his tracks to help me finish her, stared at me in amazement as I landed onto the ground. I glared at Tiamat, her health head receded to red, and was weak enough to finish her off. I glance over at Kirito and motion my head toward her, indicating to him to prepare to finish her. Kirito recovered from his amazement and nodded in acknowledgement, then proceeded to walk beside me as we approached the downed monster.

As we approached her head, I raised my sword in preparation for the final strike when Tiamat looked up weakly at me and hoarsely pleaded," Wait... I am... one of the Spawn.. I can grant you... your... every.. wish."

I stay my sword and stare down at the beaten monster and coolly asked,"Can you restore my memories, and free me from this game."

Tiamat stared up at me and then began to laugh. I frown my eyebrows and stab Flametooth threw her skull, and into the metal floor of the tower. Blood trickling out of the exit wound down my blade.

With a grunt, I ripped my sword out of the defeated boss, and she exploded into several purple light fragments, and a sickly silver grey orb that had a white mist emitting around the orb was in her place. I sheathed my sword and glanced overt to Kirito who was staring at me with narrowed eyes,"What did you two mean by memories and freeing you from this game?"

"I guess I have some explaining to do." I sighed.

Kirito sheathed his sword and stared at me expectingly."Alright." I sighed.

After a few, uncomfortable moments I explained to Kirito what I know so far. The amnesia, losing my memories, them being held by the Spawn and how this game is a death game to me now.

As I finished the rest of my story Kirito stared at me with a expression of pity. He opened his mouth to say something but I held my hand out and said,"Save it."

Kirito stared at me with the same pity expression before looking over at the orb and asking,"So that's one of your memories?"

"Ya." I replied, approaching the orb.

As I approached it, many voices began to speak all at once, and several pictures began to flash into view. I lift my right hand and touch the orb before suddenly I was wrecked in a body numbing pain as the dreary grey sky of above the Twilight Cathedral flash white as a flood of imagery fills my vision.

A scene of me in Drekiheim was quite prominent, then I was in a room, a small room filled with pictures of me and a few other individuals. My family. In the real world I actually did have white hair, and blue eyes. I looked exactly as I did in the real world. Next came a vision of me listening in on a demonic voice, presumably Malefors.**"Soon I will have it. Soon I will have my revenge on all of those who opposed me in my quest for power. Sugho my have failed me in my quest for manipulating the mind, but I will accomplish it myself." **he was speaking to a few others, all hidden behind pitch black cloaks. Malefor was hidden in the shadows but a large pair of shinning red reptilian eyes could be seen shining in the dark.**" And that brat Kazuto Kirigaya, will pay for interfering in my affairs. He wants to play a hero, he can play a dead one."** Malefor began to cackle, as the other joined in another vision flashed in my mind as I heard Malefor roar,**"Cease him. He has heard to much."** the last thing i rember after that was a bright purple beam of energy striking me and my world going black.

As the my memory began to fade away a ominous, distorted voice chanted,"Draco... Draco... Draco."

"Draco!"

My eyes shot open as I regain consciousness. I turn my head and looked up to see Kirito shaking my shoulders with a concerned expression. 'What happened' I asked myself in thought.

As if he had read my mind, Kirito said,"When you touched the orb you passed out. What happened?"

I groggily moved my body to get up, every movement screamed with intense pain from regaining my memory. I then rose to my feet, with Kiritos help, and began to explain to him about what I saw. He eyes widen in shock as the name "Kazuto Kirigaya" left my lips. Seeing this I raised an eyebrow and opened my mouth to ask whats wrong when I heard a loud _PING _as it indicated I had received a message. I summoned my menu and scroll down the option, eventually finding my message box option. I clicked the open option and saw that the message was from none other than Malefor. As I began to read the letter, Kirito walked up beside me and began to read along with me.

**So you have defeated Tiamat. Very good. You are strong, but not enough to regain the last of your memories. You see, each of my Spawn have individual strengths and weaknesses, but... there are some that are stronger than others. Now that you found the first piece of the puzzle I'm guessing you remember what happened, lets just say you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. **

**Let me give you a sneak peak, you see you listened in on a... illegal conversation, so I needed you removed, you put up a good fight. Perhaps more so than the Black Swordsman, yes I know you are friends now. I see much more than you think. Now do you recall the game Sword Art Online, you see that was the game that was meant to be released along side Drekiheim, produced by Rage. This game was released a few months ago but there was a secret 3 year beta-test. You were one of the few 50 lucky few that were allowed to test the game.**

**However, after you listened in on my plan I had no choice but to capture you, and to think you have been locked in this game for 3 years, well 4 since the game was recently released. How is it that we havn't received a lawsuit from your family, because you no longer have a family, there all gone. Look at me drone on like this, anyways I have taken the pleasure of adding the main quest of Drekiheim to your quest list. Complete this, and you can fight the Spawn and regain your memories with the power of a dragon. Good luck, runt.**

**Malefor**

I couldn't believe what I was reading, I reread the message over and over again as Kirito cursed under his breath. 4 years, I've been trapped in this game for four years. I stared down at the ground in hollow sorrow. All my families... gone.

Then I felt a hand grasp my shoulder and I jerked around to see Kirito, with a pity expression on his face,"I'm sorry about what has happened to you." He frowned his eyebrows and growled,"I promise I will help you free yourself from this game."

I stared at Kirito blankly for a moment before finally recover and said,"I can take care of myself. Listen you don't need to get mixed you in this. This is my problem not yours."

With that said, I began to walk to the exit of the rooftop, when a message appeared infront of my face. A friend request. I look back at Kirito who wore a friendly determined smile."As of this right now we are friends... and friends look after each other."

I felt... surprised by this."Friends?" I asked.

"Yeah. Listen I'm going to log off and turn in for the night, but I'm going to tell my friends and come back here... and help you regain your memories, and free yourself." he replied.

I was seriously confused by this. Why would he risk pissing off possibly the the most dangerous man they will ever meet just to help a stranger he just met. I looked down at the message, then glanced up at Kirito who wore a encouraging smile. Hesitantly, I clicked the accept option.

Kirito smiled and suddenly a green icon appeared on my map. Which meant that a player that just friend, this was a useful method of finding your friend if you ever got lost. As Kirito summoned his menu he looked over at me and promised,"I'll be back tomorrow."

As he logs off I simply stared at the spot he had stood in and whispered,"Ya, right.". I then proceed to exit out of the rooftop and make my way down the tower.

XXX

As I my vision focuses from exiting the game I pull off my NerveGear, and glance over at my clock. I was 2 in the morning. I sat up on my bed and grabbed my phone off my computer desk and quickly called Asuna.

As the phone rings through a few more times finally someone answers it. A tired, female voice answers,"Hello."

"Asuna, listen we need to talk." I said rushly.

"Kirito-kun, why so late? Whats the matter?" Asuna question, fully awake.

"Not right now, listen Agil's Cafe is still open I want to meet you there with everyone else." I answered.

"OK see you there." she said as she hung up the phone.

After waking up Sughua, and waiting for her to get dressed, luckly I had wore my school cloths when I logged onto Drekiheim, and rode my motorcycle to Agil's with Sughua.

As everyone tiredly took there seats Klein popped off,"OK Kirito whats this about?"

I grasped Asunas hand, and looked around at all my friends. Klein, Agil, Lisbeth, Silica, Sughua, Sinon and Asuna. I sighed and explained,"While in Drekiheim I met a American player named Draco, he told me he was on a quest. Seeing that he might need help, being a newbie, I decided to help him out. Well when we encountered a high level boss named Tiamat the Bat Queen, she spoke to him about lost memories. And called me the Black Swordsman."

This caught everyone's attention, Asuna looked at me with great concern as I continued," As we killed the boss, Draco received some of his memories back, wanting to know what was going on I asked him about what was really going on and he explained to me how a guy named Malefor stole his memories, and made Drekiheim a death game for him only."

This made Asuna gasp quietly, and everyone else to widen there eyes,"Oh but that's nothing, after that Malefor messaged him himself, telling him about how this game was suppose to be released along side SAO but decided to go into a secret 3 year beta-test, with only 50 testers allowed to play it. Well as it turns out he's been trapped in it for 4 years... and that all his family is dead so that's way no one filed a lawsuit against Malefor."

Asuna gasp, covering her mouth with her hand in the process. Everyone gasped at this information."4 years, Damn." whispered Klein.

I stared out in thought until Asuna disrupted his train of thought."Kirito."

I looked over at Asuna as she stared at me with a sad look,"He needs us. You know what its like to stand alone in a death game."

Asuna was right, I couldn't leave Draco behind to suffer any longer. I smiled at her and nodded,"We'll save him together."

Asuna returned my smile and I heard Klein ask,"So were heading into another magic game, mixed with a grim fantasy, and blood. Count me in!"

I smiled at Kleins enthusiasm as everyone else agreed. But, I explained that we would have to start from scratch, level wise since he was able to transfer his SAO avatar to Drekiheim without a problem, but lost his equipment. Although my Incarnation skills were transferred along with me, much to my surprise.

Sinon agreed with my plan, but asks,"How are we ALL going to get into the game. Some of us don't have enough money." Asuna smiled and explained that she can ask her parents to purchase a copy for everyone else and as soon as we got Drekiheim we would help Draco.

I smiled and said to Asuna,"You'll like him, he's a really good fighter." after explaining the fight with Tiamat in great detail. Silica asked excitedly,"He did all that? He sounds awesome!"

Sughua, my sister, seemed quite curious to meet Draco, while Lisbeth and Silica were very excited to meet him. Even Sinon raised an eyebrow curiously. With that said we all agreed to go to Drekiheim together to help Draco.

And to discover Malefors intentions for me.

**Bam, chapter 3. Well how was it. If you liked it review as I am working on chapter 3, and preparing for my last year of highschool. See ya next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Keeping a Promise

Right now it was probably night time in the real world, Japan most likely. Right now, I am walking along a stone path bordered by a thick treeline on both sides. The forest itself was home to many dangerous creatures, the most prominent player killers were the Wargs. The gigantic creatures resembled a wolf, with some... different traits.

The main features that separated a Warg from wolves was not only there size but a long blocky muscular head fitted with both cutting and bone crushing teeth, long thick claws used for climbing, there bodies were lean but rippled with muscle, there ears unlike a wolfs ears which rested on the top of there heads, Wargs had there long pointed ears resting along the side of there heads, adding to there intimidation factors along side there glowing bloodthirsty eyes.

Wargs also have a unique role in Drekiheim, serving as enemies and mounts. Warg mounts are usually used by Orcs, nasty, grotesque creatures that are in a special section of there own when it comes to meeting a horrendous death. Although players can acquire a Warg mount it is either to risky or to expensive to be worth there time. But, unlike horses, Wargs are extremely strong, can climb and jump extremely high, making them very useful in explore treacherous terrain.

The full moon in the sky shone brightly, lighting up the world with a dim white light. At least I could see the path infront of me. As I trudge a ways further, a howl spills through the forest making me stop in my tracks and grasp Flametooth in preparation for a fight. All was quiet, I glance around quickly and once again the howl returned, this time closer to my position.

I stare into the forest in the direction of the howling and see the luminescent glow of torch light deep in the forest, along with hearing the grotesque shouts in a unknown language.

"Orcs." I growled.

Suddenly, a barrage of shouts and snarls exploded in the direction of the Orcs. They must have cornered a monster. Orcs were well known through out Drekiheim for not just killing players in ways to horrendous to think of, but for there nightly hunts for players and monsters alike.

I decided to investigate the commotion in the forest and engaged my sneak skill, then proceeded to creep into the forest. Whatever the Orcs captured it was pretty pissed, in a dry river bellow me, the Orcs had cornered a large black Warg. The Warg snarled viciously and lunged at a eager Orc that had moved to close for comfort, tackling him and clamped down on his waist. Then tossed the squealing Orc aside like a ragdoll.

As the dead Orc slammed down infront of, presumably the leader of this hunt, a rather large brute of an Orc he snarled in a unknown language. This comment made the Orcs surround the Warg and stab at it with there spears. The Warg managed to dodge most of the attacks but one caught it in the hind leg, making it snarl in pain. As the Orc hollered at its successful strike, the Warg spun around and bit down on the Orcs are, pulling him to the ground and biting down on its head.

While the Warg was busy with killing the Orc, the brute Orc had already picked up a large spear and briskly walked up to the viscous creature killing his comrades. The Warg finished off the Orc it was occupied with and rounded on the brute. It lunged at him, but was skewered by the Orc, making the beast howl in pain. As the Warg thrashed around on the end of the spear the Orc smiled cruelly at the suffering beast, thrusting the spear deeper into its chest. With its final ounce of life, the Warg threw its head forward and crunched down on the Orcs skull, holding him in a dead grip. The Orc instantly released the spear and frantically began to beat at the dead Warg but eventually slumped forward, falling down to the ground with the Warg still clamped down around his head.

Witnessing the death of there leader, the remaining Orcs screamed in a panic and bolted in all directions into the forest. Leaving there torches behind. The sight of the battle was quite amazing but what I felt wasn't amazement... but sadness.

I leap down from the river run off and land down into the dry river bed bellow. I then walk up to the dead Warg and crouch down beside it, resting my hand on its matted black fur. Then, a series of whimpering howls sound in a dug out den along side the dirt wall behind me. I turn around and stare into the dark den, when to my surprise a pure white Warg Pup with glowing proud yellow eyes stumbles clumsily out of the mouth of the den, whimpering helplessly.

The sight of this made my eyes soften, I approached the little scrap and scooped him up in my arms. The little creature barked happily and began to nuzzle his snout into my right arm, making himself comfortable. As I stared down at the little creature, I suddenly realized what had just happened. That dead Warg... was a den mother. This was a rare event that a balanced or a beast tamer class player could part take in and acquire there own Warg mount. By raising it yourself.

While I stared at the dead Warg Mother in pity, a slinky Orc creeped over the river runoff ledge above me, glaring down at me like a hungry predator. The little Warg Pup cocked his head up and snarled at the Orc, then barked in a high pitched tone. As the Orc lunged over the edge at me with a snarl I spun around, unsheathing flame tooth and sliced the incoming Orc inhalf.

I glared at the two halves of the Orc and sheathed Flametooth. If it wasn't for the little pup I would have been caught off guard by the Orcs attack, or worse. I hooked my hands in the pups arm pits of his front legs and held him up to my face. The little pup was panting happily, while wagging his tail, giving me a happy bark.

"You are one lucky mutt, you know that." I smiled at the little pup as it gives off another happy bark. I glanced sadly back at the dead Warg on last time before smiling and moved the pup into my arms, cradling him like a baby as I resume my way to the nearest town.

Finally, after a few more tiring miles, I had reached the town of Ulthane. As I tiredly shuffled my legs through the street lit town, many passing NPC commented on the little pup that was resting in my arms. As I entered the inn I requested a room for the night, which costed me 10 gold.

I sleepily accepted the terms and made my way up the stairs and into my room. I approached the bed, which was decorated with a black summer blanked with a purple interior, and a all black pillow for me to sleep with. I set the little whit pup down at the foot of the bed, waking him up in the process, and crawled under the covers. Before I drifted of to sleep, the little pup tiredly crawled up the bed and burrowed under the covers, and resting his snout on my arm before we both drifted off to sleep.

_Morning_

The feeling of something warm and wet began to hit my face. I groggily open my eyes to see the little pup staring into my face, panting happily before giving me another lick to the face.

"Ugh." I groaned as I raised up from the bed, moving the little pup off my chest so I can get up. I set the pup down in the floor and gave myself a good stretch before a message appeared in my face. It read.

**Hey, I'm here with my friends in the town of Yorike. Well see you in a couple of hours in Morsan Woods.**

**Kirito**

With a sigh I excepted the message and a bright green waypoint appeared on my map, clearly the point Kirito had marked for me. After I had accepted the message another one appeared, this time wanting me to confirm my Warg Pups name.

"Name?" I questioned to myself in surprise.

I looked down through the holographic message at the little pup, who was sitting at my feet in a obedient manner with his head cocked to the right giving me a cute confused stare. I smiled down at the little pup and grasped my chin in thought. I snapped my fingers and typed in **Fenrir**.

As I clicked the enter option a healthbar appeared under mine with the name Fenrir posted on the left side of it. I look down at the pup, who also had Fenrir, hovering above his head for only a moment before it faded into nothing.

I smiled slightly and crouched down,"Come here boy."

Fenrir barked happily and immediately obeyed. Running up to me and propped his front legs on my knee, licking me continuously. I chuckled and pulled away from the happy little pup before a message appeared infront of my face, saying Fenrir was hungry.

I exited out of the notification and looked down at Fenrir,"You hungry boy?" I asked.

Fenrir gave a acknowledging bark before running around in circles around my leg making me chuckle,"Alright hold on a sec."

As I summoned my inventory, I scroll over to the food storage, and scroll down through the list. The only thing I could find for Fenrir to eat was a S class item called **Rugout Rabbit Meat**. As I select the option to feed him, a message appeared saying,** Not right now.**

I frowned at this and continued pressing the feed option, only to get the same message over and over again. With my frustration growing, I decided to go outside to feed him. As I exited the inn, the morning sun shoned brightly up in the blue sky. Ulthane was bustling with player activity, almost as much as Yorike did when I first remembered arriving there.

As I pass by a group of player, one of the girls coos,"Ah I love your puppy."

I raised an eyebrow and looked down at Fenrir, who was enjoying a relaxing rub from on of the girl that had stopped to pet him."Flirt." I scolded under my breath.

After having enough of being petted, Fenrir left the girl and trotted up to me, expecting to be fed. I scowled at him for being such a kiss up, but selected the feed option. A large piece of meat appeared infront of Fenrir, about a big as he was, and he proceeded to tear at it hungrily. As Fenrir finished the last of the meat, he liked his chops in satisfaction. Suddenly, he was enveloped in a cloud of white light. The players that had stopped to admire Fenrir gasped in surprise as his outline in the light began to grow larger and more muscular.

The light cleared to reveal a large muscular, proud looking male Warg with shining yellow eyes. Everyone gasped and took a step back as Fenrir trotted up to me. He nuzzled my left hand, and pulled back, bringing his back down to my level. I stare at Fenrir questioningly before clamoring onto his back as he lifted himself higher. All the players in the street began to murmur to each other as I began to walk Fenrir down the street towards the direction of Kirito's waypoint.

**Whew, man I'm tired, its 11pm now so I'm turning in. Later.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Uncle Draco!

As I sent the message to Draco, I turned to my friends and smiled,"He should be on his way."

Sinon raised an eyebrow and asked,"Where is he?"

I looked over at the blue haired girl and replied,"In the town of Ulthane. About 200 miles from here."

"You think he'll show up?" questioned Klein.

"He will. He maybe a grumpy fella but he'll show." I assured everyone.

Everyone looked exactly like there real life looks, excluding Sinon, and Leafa. Sinon keept her skimpily dressed blue haired Gun Gale avatar, while Leafa was using her blonde hair Sylph Alfheim avatar. Finally, there was Asuna. She on the other hand looked exactly how she did in the real world, her long orange-brownish hair flowing down to her waist, her warm hazel eyes, everything. I just hope Draco behaves himself. Although he didn't act like the perverted type but still.

The only big difference in Drekiheim was there was no race selection, but a class selection. I was a black swordsman, much like my title in SAO. My armor consisted of black ebony knight armor with a pitch black longsword. Asuna herself was a swords women, but in this game it was called the Templar class, a holy knight class that served a fighters and healers. She wore a set of creme colored armor with a silver breast plate and boots, at her left hip was a bronze rapier that glistened in the sunlight.

Leafa although she keept her Sylph avatar she still had to choose a class, her choice was a Battlemage. Since she was using her Sylph avatar she keept her long blonde hair which was tied up in a ponytail with a flower like hairband, and bright green eyes. Her armor consisted of a bright green cloak attached to a set of bright green leather armor, that showed a fair amount of her cleavage, and a basic light weight katana.

Then there was Lisbeth who still had her pink hair and freckled face. She was a balanced type player, mainly consisting of blacksmithing traits, she wore a simple set of iron armor and had a blacksmiths hammer at her left hip as a weapon.

Silica the twin pigtailed brown hair girl with reddish brown eyes, as usual, was a beast tamer class. But the class she chose was called the Hunter, this class was quite interesting mainly due to the fact she can have up to three creatures at once, and ride them if there big enough. Her attire was a set of Stableboys armor, which consisted of a plain long sleeve shit and pants with a tiny iron dagger at her hips. At her shoulder was her faithful companion Pina the blue feathery dragon.

Next was Sinon, who was a Ranger class player that was skimpily dressed like she was in Gun Gale, with brown leather leggings, small black pants, a black shirt topped with an iron breastplate that showed off her midriff. Since the sniper class was a long range fighter, she had a basic iron bow at her back with a quiver full of arrows.

Finally, there was Klein. A Rogue classed bandit type player, who wore a set of all leather armor with a red headband over his red hair and two daggers at his hips. His facial features include a thin chin strip, thin eyebrows, a sharp nose, and a pair of gentle eyes.

After observing everyone to make sure we were all here there was only one of our group that was missing, Agil. He was busy in IRL with his job at the cafe but wished us the best of luck on our quest to help Draco. As we were about to head out a little girl with long black hair, wearing an elegant white dress appeared in a flash of white light and ran over to Asuna exclaiming happily,"Mommy!" as she hugged her.

Asuna and I both smile at our daughter. She was going to be a vital part of this team, as she was the one that helped me save Asuna from Sugou from ALO, and helped me in Underworld. As she pulled away from Asuna she asked,"What is Draco like?"

Everyone looked at me with curious expressions and I chuckled,"Kinda hot headed and cocky."

This made Yui ponder a minute and question,"Well... what does he look like?" I smile and reply,"You'll see when we meet him."

Yui smiled and said,"OK!"

With that said, I took point and we made our way to Morsan Woods at the waypoint I had marked.

As it turns out the waypoint I had marked led us to a large Orc camp in the middle of a large open patch of forest surrounded by giant redwood trees. Good, we needed the xp. As we charge into the camp, Asuna immediately began to level up quickly, much like her title in SAO. Leafa was preoccupied with a group of Orc Spearmen but after charging up a lightning spell, blasted them away with a powerful lightning bolt.

Klein was having a little trouble with a Cyclops the Orcs had brought in. As the chained beast grabbed Klein and prepared to bite him inhalf, a arrow shoot past Kleins head and struck the beast in its one menacing eye, killing it in one shot.

I was impressed, Sinon even in this world was a good shot, and managed to kill a high level monster in one shot too. As we began to finish off the remaining Orcs, a scout blew into a horn, creating a loud saxophone type note that was way off key, signaling for reinforcements. 'Damn it' I cursed in my mind. As Sinon silenced the Orc we all knew it was to late as a large wave of Orcs spawned at the edge of the camp.

XXX

I sighed and slouched over a bit on Fenrirs back, making my mount glance up at me questioningly before looking forward on the path ahead. This was quite boring not to mention I didn't want Kirito's help in regaining my memories. But I main as well hear him out. Besides he did fight pretty good when we faced Tiamat.

Suddenly a loud of tone horn call sounded in the distance but was abruptly cut off. Fenrir stops in his tracks and sniffs the air, then snarls viciously. I look down at Fenrir questioningly then the familiar shouts and growls of a unknown language catch my relization.

"Orcs." I growled to myself.

Then I notice that the waypoint was in the general direction of the commotion making me sigh,"Kirito must have set the waypoint right in the Orc camp."

Sensing that Kirito and his friends might need me, I urge Fenrir forward,"Let go."

Fenrir immediately obeyed and with a snarl lunged forward, bounding his way threw the forest. Elegantly gliding over the forest floor as an eagle would in the sky, Fenrir leaped over rivers and streams. Clamored over boulders as we would stepping over a small rock. Finally we reached the encampment, stopping at a small drop off over the camp.

I was quite impressed, littering the ground around Kiritos group were many dead Orcs and even a Cyclops. As I stared down at them in slight amazement Fenrir snarled in the direction of a horde of Orcs.

Smiling slightly I lightly kicked Fenrirs sides with my heels,"Lets help them out."

Fenrir growled in acknowledgment and launched forward off the the drop off. Bounding fearlessly toward the horde. Since the encampment was quite open the Orcs instantly saw me and gave a few yelps of surprise. As we neared the horde I drew Flametooth and yelled a battle cry as we dove into the horde. As I began to cleave several of the Orcs heads, Fenrir chomped down on one of the Orcs and tossed it aside, then gave a powerful swipe with his silver colored claws at three incoming Orcs, sending them sailing backwards.

As we began to finish the last of the Orcs a Cyclopes stomped its way into the encampment wielding a large wooden club in its left hand. Suddenly a arrow stabbed into the monsters shoulder with a loud _THICKT_ as a blue haired female ranger with icy blue eyes and had quite the skimpy appearance, shot the beast in attempt to distract it.

It clearly worked as the Cyclops roared in anger and thundered toward the group of players, weapons raised to meet him in combat. I growled in annoyance and slashed one last Orc before charging Fenrir forward. With a roar, Fenrir bounded forward and launched up into the air, stabbing his claws into the Cyclops as bit down on its neck neck. The Cyclops roared in pain but its roar became horse and stuggled to breath as Fenrir crushed his windpipe. As its blood dripped down from Fenrirs maw, the Cyclops fell forward and slammed to the ground as the last of his health was drained from his healthbar.

Satisfied that the creature was dead, Fenrir released the its neck and leaped down from the body. As I dismounted Fenrir, Kirito walked up to me, smiling welcomeingly before offering a hand, which I took in a firm hand shake. "About time you showed up." he commented.

"Well your one that decided to meet up in the middle of an Orc camp." I fired back jokingly.

Kirito merely smiled and released his grip as a group of 5 girls and 1 male approached the two of us. One of the girls, who had brown hair and two fairly long pigtails eagerly introduced herself as 'Silica' I stare at the young girl curiously as a weird little blue feathered creatures cries out at me from her shoulder. The little creature then proceeds to fly off its masters shoulders and land on my snow white hair, making itself comfortable. I look up at the weird little creature as Silica giggles and says,"I think Pina likes you."

The little blue creature rested peacefully on my head until Fenrir slinkly approached the creature in a stalking manner, lifting his snout up to the creature and vigorously sniffed at it. Pina's red eyes shot open and she stared at Fenrir for a moment before leaping off my head back to her master. Fenrir, who just wanted to have a better look, bounded after the creature but stopped to sniff Silica instead.

Much to my annoyance, my majestic, ferocious mount flopped down of his back and rolled at Silicas feet, expecting a belly rub. Silica happily obliged Fenrirs sweet behavior and proceeded to play with him, making the rest of the group chuckle at the Wargs friendly behavior.

While Silica played with Fenrir, the rest of the group introduced themselves to me. A girl named Asuna approached me and introduces herself to me. Her beauty slightly ganders my attention but I simply brush it off and reply it was nice to meet her. She then decides to strike up a conversation and tells me she is sorry that I was locked in here for so long, and that if I had any question to just ask. I respectfully tell her that she does not need to feel sorry for me, and that if I did have any questions I would be sure to ask her. This response makes her smile slightly at me and return to Kiritos side, prompting me to realize they were in a relationship.

Suddenly, a small little pixie floats out of Kiritos breast pocket and materializes into a small little girl with long black hair and an elegant white dress. She then runs up to me and joyfully introduces herself as Yui. After staring at me curiously she asks,"What are you?" by that she meant race as I was american and not japenese.

I sarcastically reply," Oh, I'm your long lost uncle."

Yui gasps happily and hugs me tightly, making me jump in surprise,"Really, your my uncle?"

I stared down at the naive girl and open my mouth to confirm I am NOT her uncle when I glance up at Asuna and Kirito who wore amused smiles. I frown my eyebrows in frustration and annoyance and said,"Yes! I'm your uncle... UNCLE DRACO!" I said in a sarcastic tone.

Yui hugged me tighter and giggled happily, making me frown in frustration. As she pulled away she called over to Kirito and Asuna,"Mommy, Daddy, I have an uncle!"

Kirito and Asuna chuckled at Yui's happiness as she transformed into a pixie and fluttered up to my head and nessled herself in my hair. She commented,"Your hairs really soft uncle Draco."

I wore a puzzled look at Asuna and Kirito who explained to me how Yui was there daughter. "Oh, well that explains alot." I said.

After the humorous moment had passed, the next girl to introduce herself was a girl with short pink hair that wore a set of iron armor and had a sweet freckled face named Lisbeth. She was quite interesting, mainly in her knowledge of blacksmithing as she exclaimed in surprise at the sight of my steel armor. As she polity asked me if she could read the ingredients needed to make the armor, I simply give her the helmet of the armor set, and told her I do not need it, making her thank me appreciatively.

After meeting Lisbeth, I then met a rather... busty girl. Her name was Leafa she had long blonde hair tied in a ponytail by a flower shaped headband, and wore a green cloak around a set of bright green leather armor, that show quite a bit of her cleavage that I fought not to stare at, and she was surprisingly Kiritos sister aside from the fact she had pointy elf ears. Leafa is greatly impressed by my fighting skills on top of Fenrir when she asks me if she could ever ride him. I simply reply,"Sure, hes a sucker for the ladies anyways. Damn kiss up.". Leafa giggled at my comment as I scowled at Fenrir who was now playing with Silica and Yui, with Pin darting around his legs.

After that I met Sinon, a mysterious type she was. The light blue haired girl had a serious expression when she introduced herself, prompting me to ask,"You upset about something?" She blankly replied,"No." She then stared at me with her arctic blue eyes, making me stare back with my oceanic blue eyes, making her shift uncomfortably.

Lastly there was Klein, a scruffy Rogue who locked me in a head lock and began to give me a noggy. I growled in annoyance and took Kleins noggy, this one time only, after he let go he offered a hand and introduced himself,"Names Klein."

I took his hand and grumpily reply,"Draco." mostly due to the surprising noggy. Klein chuckled and glanced at Kirito,"Your right. He is kinda grumpy."

I give Kirito a death glare, making him hold up his hands in submission and laugh. I continued to glare at him before sighing,"OK so what do you guys want?"

Kirito lost his happy demeanor and seriously replied,"Were here to help you get your memories back.. and free you from this game."

I glance up at Kirito and frown my eyebrows and snarl,"I don't need your help. This is my problem not yours and don't feed me any of that bullcrap about how you were in my shoes once. This game ain't shit compared to SAO."

My snarl made everyones eyes widen slightly as I brush past Kirito to Fenrir. Kirito called back at me,"Listen we can help you. Why are acting like an ass, when we can free you from this game?!"

"Because this is my fight not yours! Do you not get it, this is a death game to me, if I die I can't come back! Its best if you just walk away and never look back Kirito." I retorted.

Kirito mood lightened up by my need to do this alone, and the concern of him grieving for my death, should I die."Sorry I didn't-"

"Didn't what? Except your help happily, so that you can play the hero and save me from this game. Listen Kirito, your no hero. Malefor isn't like any of those bitches you faced in other worlds he's the real deal. He's after you Kirito. Do you not understand that? He wants to kill you, and you think you can come play the vigilante hero and stop him. Well you thought wrong." I snarled venomously.

Kirito stared at the ground lost for words as I mounted Fenrir and began to ride away, before Kirito piped up,"Your right. I'm sorry. But there isn't any reason you have to do this alone. We can help you... if you'll let us."

I stop Fenrir in his tracks and look back at the group, who wore hopeful, determined faces. I pondered in thought until Yui pleaded hopefully,"Please let Papa help you uncle Draco."

I stare down at the little girl, who was giving me big wet puppy dog eyes, making the situation even more difficult to be denied. With a begrudging shrug I said,"Oh alright. Just stay out of my way."

Yui leaped with joy as the rest of the group smile at my agreement. Then Yiu walks up to Fenrir and asks,"Can I ride with you?"

I look down at her questioningly, but Fenrir gave a approving ruff making me sigh,"Alright."

Yui gasped with joy as she clamored up Fenrir and sat down in front of me urging him forward. This is going to be a long ride.

**Alright I just wanted to thank everyone for the encouraging review. Thanks guys. Well I'm starting school tomorrow but that won't stop me from writing. See next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 The Crystal Golem

I had to admit, the people Kirito brought along were quite… interesting. It's already been a few days since I met them and I have to say, there good people.

Kirito, although as annoying as he could be with his constant need to help me, I consider him a friend.

Asuna is a strong relying fighter, and as I recently learned, was Kirito's girlfriend/ingame wife. She reminded me more of a mother type figure or a big sister.

Then there was Klein, the scruffy samurai rogue who's ok in my book. That is until her tries to give me noogies when I'm not looking.

Lizbeth and Silica are cool to. Although they seem to act really weird when something awkward happens.

Leafa is also intriguing, the rather busty Sylph fairy from another game. She seems to act really… odd around me. Sort of giving off an interested vibe although I could be wrong.

Then, there's Yui. The little ingame daughter of Kirito and Asuna, adopted much to my confusion at first. Yui I guess I consider my niece mainly due to my big mouth and sarcastic comments but I have to say, I enjoy her company. The few day's that had passed, Yui never powered down or logged out like her father or mother, instead she stayed by her "uncles" side day and night until her papa comes back to the virtual world. I still remember the first day she spent with me when she asked if she could sleep with me.

_Flashback_

I sighed as I landed on the soft feather mattress of the inn room I had rented for 10 gold. The day I had spent riding and dealing with my new "friends" really tired me. Fenrir was resting outside in the stables and right now me and my "adopted niece" Yui are preparing to rest. As I began to grow sleepy and the world around me begins to fade into blackness, I hear a small timid voice ask,"U-Uncle Draco?"

My eyes shoot open, bloodshot with tiredness,"Yesss?" I hissed in frustration,"What is it?"

"Can… can I sleep with you tonight?" Yui asked, scuffling her foot awkwardly.

I rolled around and looked at the young girl who was not in her pixie form but in her normal sized four foot tall little girl form and saw that she was wearing what I know now to be her trade mark big wet puppy dog eyes that seem to add a feeling of guilt when she flips those cards but also she looked fragile and timid. I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

I shrugged and turned back over,"Ok, climb in."

I heard Yui gasp and run up to the bed then felt the surprisingly heavy girl pile ontop of me and crawl under the covers. While I was gasping for breath see scooted close to me and snuggled close to my chest,"Goodnight, Uncle Draco."

After I finally catched my breath, I thought about scolding the girl harshly for flopping down ontop of me but I held my tongue and tried to get some sleep, but peeked open an eye and saw that Yui was sleeping peacefully against my chest, wearing a happy smile as she slept in absolute bliss.

For once in this game, I smiled. I closed my eyes and fell asleep as well. Knowing I had someone to keep me company while I was trapped here.

_End of Flashback_

I sighed in slight boredom as I trudged ahead beside Kirito down a dirtpath towards the main city of Drekiheim, the city of Dragoon.

I looked over to see Yui and Silica having a blast while riding around on Fenrir. The overgrown housedog panted happily and ran back and forth up and down the path with the 2 girls riding him contently. With Pina clinging to his ears for dear life.

I smiled slightly while watching this, Leafa was next to me and she cracked a smile,"So that's what you look like when you smile?"

I looked at her questioningly. What was that suppose to me?"You should smile more often Draco," Lizbeth said, teasingly,"I looks good on your grumpy face."

Now I was frowning and I slouched forward,'Girls' I muttered mentally. Kirito suddenly stopped, holding his hand up,"Hold up!"

"What is it?' Asuna asked, stepping up to Kirito's side.

"Something's wrong." He answered, scanning the path ahead.

While everyone else was acting cautious as if a massive monster was stalking around I just scoffed,"Your being paranoid."

"No I'm not!" Kirito exclaimed looking ahead of the path."I swear there's something seriously wrong here."

I snorted and scanned ahead, using my Trap Finding Skill and realized there were several traps along the path.

"You can calm down Psycho Pants," I said to Kirito,"It's just traps set by Goblins."

"Psycho Pant's?" Kirito repeated, earning a few giggles from the girls.

"Goblins look a lot like Orcs but are way smaller and weaker." I informed, turning to face them,"But there most infamous for their numerous traps that are very difficult to locate."

"What kind of traps." Asuna asked curiously.

"Oh the usual. Pitfall traps, spike traps, nooses, that sort of thing." I answered,"But don't worry. There cowardly in nature the worst that can happen is the little bastards will sit there from the safety of a tree top and laugh at you while you're stuck in one of their traps."

"They sound rather mischievous then dangerous." Sinon said, leaning against a tree along the path.

"Yea well we aren't going to get anywhere just standing here." I pointed out, taking the lead.

"Draco wait!" Kirito called reaching a hand out to stop me.

"Oh calm down Kirito what's the worst that could- AHHHHHH!" I was cut off as I fell yelling down a deep hole.

"Draco!" Kirito yelled, running up to the edge of the hole.

They all looked down the deep hole seeing it was filled with thorny vines and purple cactus pads that covered the entire floor."Uncle Draco!" Yui called.

"Ow!" I yelled surprising them as I leaped out of the hole covered in thorns and purple cactus pads, yelling,"YYYOWWWW!" before disappearing back down into the hole, gaining even more thorns.

Kirito looked at the others but jumped back in surprise as I leaped up and grabbed the edge of the ledge, digging my fingers into the dirt as I yelped with each movement causing the thorns to go deeper,"OO, EH, OO, OW!"

As I clambered my way up the ledge I stood there, covered in thorns and dripping blood. Then, Kirito busted out laughing,"Pfft, ha, ha, ha."

I glared at him with hot intensity; I just wanted to kill him with my angry gaze."What's so funny chuckles?" I growled through clenched teeth.

He held his stomach and panted, trying to talk before he began to laugh again. He sighed and said,"Look, Look at you! Ha, ha, your covered in, and the way you, ha, ha, ha!" he fell backwards, laughing so hard he was crying making me want to kill him more.

Now everyone else was laughing at me, I just stood there. Dripping blood while wearing an unamused look on my face. Finally, Leafa sighed, recovering from her laughter as she walked up to me."Here let me help you."

"By help do you mean-OW!"

Leafa had grabbed a handful of thorns and a cactus pad and began to yank them out, thus covering me in blood as I cursed,"SON OF BI- OW! Damn it woman must you yank them out so hard!" I snarled with only a dark purple cactus pad remaining on the seat of my pants.

Leafa giggled,"God don't be such a sissy Cactus Butt!"

"Cactus Butt?" I demanded, making the others begin to laugh again,"First of all, name calling is my specialty and seconded it's not being a sissy damn it and you are NOT yanking this remain pad out!" I pointing at her as she motioned to grab the pad.

Leafa sighed smiling as she shook her head,"Listen, you can play mister difficult all you want but if that pad isn't removed it's just going to steadily decrease your health which you'll need on our way to Dragoon."

"No! Never!" I hissed, making the mistake of backing up towards Sinon,"Leave it! I'd rather face losing HP then having a girl yank daggers out of my-" Sinon sighed and walked up behind me, then just yanked the pad right off, which was going to smart for days where it was located at.

"AHHOW!"

I slowly turned to face her, in response she just held the purple spike cover pad and smiled, waving it around.

"Ow." I whispered, rubbing my butt.

Kirito began to laugh again but this time I yanked my sword out. I snarled,"Do laugh chuckles when you don't have a throat to do so!"

Kirito held his hands up but I could tell he was holding it back as Asuna came up beside me, giggling,"Oh, calm down Draco it was funny!"

I sighed as I sheathed my sword still rubbing my sore area,"It still hurts!"

Sinon shook her head and said to the others as I began to walk up ahead,"He's a tough guy but let him get a little splinter and he's a big baby."

"Heard that!" I called from up ahead.

Sinon shook her head and gave a small chuckle along with everyone else's chuckling as I stopped up ahead and drew my sword causing them to look at me curiously.

"Uh, Draco?" called Silica,"What are you doing?"

"Finding the little bastards that set this trap!" I called back, suddenly I was struck in the side of the head by a small stone.

"DIOOH" I yelped falling backwards.

A pair of high pitched laughing came up from the trees as I gazed up and saw the little bastards that set the trap. Two dirt brown ugly ass goblins were sitting there laughing their socks off at me, pointing there crooked dirty fingers at me as they were laughing.

"Come here you little shits your asses are mine!" I snarled jumping straight up to the branches they were sitting on while laughing at me.

The Goblins screamed in terror and fell backwards down the tree with me hot on their tails as they and I crashed into the thick brush, wrestling each other while the others laughed and watched.

"I don't know where you found this guy Kirito but he sure gets into some situations doesn't he?" Klein chuckled watching the thrashing bushes as fists began to land.

Lizbeth giggled,"He's a little goofy but he sure can play the tough guy card."

Kirito smiled and rubbed the back of his head as he said,"Yea well the tough guy card is for real. You should see him in action, then you'll see."

Sinon smiled and added,"I'll admit, he is interesting. In an annoying, hot headed way."

Suddenly, I came rolling out of the bushes. One Goblin had both my hands wrapped around his throat, choking him and the other one was punching me in the side of the face yelling high pitched cruse words."Take this you little bastard!" I snarled as I slammed him into the pit full of cactus thorns causing a high pitched scream to erupt from the pit,"Have a taste of your own medicine you little bastard!" I snarled again, yanking the last Goblin off my back and punched him into the pit, watching as both Goblins leaped out of the pit covered in cactus thorns and pads, screaming while holding there thorn covered bottoms as the charged away into the brush.

"Yea you better run!" I yelled after the Goblins as the last one shook his tiny fist at me before disappearing into the brush.

Kirito just shook his head as he called,"Alright Draco there gone now can we-"

A massive tremor suddenly shook the ground beneath us, again, and again in a steady rhythm. It also began to get closer and louder. Whatever was happening, it sounded big.

Kirito suddenly yelled at me,"Draco watch out!"

A giant shadow loomed over me and I glanced up just in time to see a turquoise almost transparent crystal foot coming down on me, pulsing with orange and purple energy."Holy crap!" I exclaimed, jumping out of the way as the massive foot came down, sending a massive shockwave of dirt and rock.

I slid forward towards the group but I recovered and slid backwards on my feet, glaring up at the giant sentinel figure that loomed over us. The beasts name read Crystal Golem, and it was massive. Maybe 100 feet tall or more. Luckily, it wasn't paying any attention to us; it was focused on heading west.

"Holy crap!" Klein exclaimed at the beast took another massive step and was gone, destroying trees and boulders in its path.

"What was that?" Silica asked, hiding behind Fenrir's head while watching the goliath beast make its way further away from us.

"A Crystal Golem." I answered gaining everyone's attention,"Very powerful mini bosses that are almost impossible to beat."

"Mini boss?" Klein exclaimed, looking panicked,"That's wasn't a mini boss that was a damn Godzilla beast!"

I grunted and stepped forward towards the beasts path it had plowed through the trees watching it was it kicked up a cloud of dust and smoke."Crystal Golems are among the most powerful and feared bosses in Drekiheim, and among the biggest." I informed gaining a curious almost fearful question from Asuna,"You mean there are things BIGGER than that?"

I shook my head yes, making everyone shift in surprise,"Crystal Golems have a 50 percent chance of gifting you a weapon made of pure Crystallized Diamond, the hardest gem in the game which is also packed full of pure Convexity energy."

"Convexity energy?" Kirito repeated,"What's that."

"The most powerful form of magic in the game." I answered, watching their faces become peeked with interest as I went on,"Convexity is pure cosmic energy that can be harnessed into an unstoppable destructive beam or a healing glow that can heal any wound, even resurrect fallen NPC's, Players anything. The powers with Convexity are limitless but very hard to learn and master."

Kirito's interest was peeked by this information, he gripped his chin in thought as Leafa asked,"How do you learn it?"

I sighed,"Well, killing a Crystal Golem has a 20 percent chance of allowing you to learn it but only about 2 percent of the 10 million players in this game know this magic BUT it drains your mana like that." I said, snapping my fingers as an example.

I continued as I turned around and watched the golem grow farther away,"Besides, those that learned the magic don't even know how to use it or know its full power and potential. The farthest anyone's ever gotten with Convexity magic is 2 skills, the Beam of Destruction and The Healing Glow."

"Will any monsters be able to use this type of magic?" Kirito asked, now wearing a serious face.

"Only Crystal type monsters know it but there the weakest with it. The Dragons are the only ones who could harness the full power of Convexity aside from Fire." I answered still staring after the golem.

Kirito was silent for a moment, thinking hard on the info he just received. Yui suddenly erupted from Kirito's breast pocket and gasped,"It's heading for an NPC village!"

Everyone grew concerned as Kirito exclaimed,"What?!"

I grew a hard stare after the massive monster as Yui hurriedly explained,"It's heading for the small river village Driftwood! It'll be there in 5 minutes!"

"All those NPC's!" Kirito growled drawing his sword,"They'll be killed!"

"All 600 of them." Yui added, looking up at Kirito as he growled,"They need our help!"

Everyone else nodded in agreement but I remained silent while watching the golem walk deeper into the forest. Growing farther and closer to the invisible village just below the mountain in a deep canyon filled with raging rapids and water monsters.

"Draco?" Kirito asked, not getting an answer from me he said,"They need our help, I know you think NPC's aren't real but they have feelings and emotions like us!"

I remained quiet for a moment before a finally said,"You mean like Yui."

Everyone was surprised by my comment but Kirito nodded,"Yes… like Yui."

"So your saying NPC's have souls." I summed up, surprising Kirito along with the others this time.

I looked over at them with my eyebrows frowned in determination,"Then what are we waiting for?"

Kirito smiled and nodded which I returned,"Listen, the rest of you head to the village and warn the leader of the village tell them to prepare for a massive fight. I'll hold it off as long as I can."

"Wait what?" Lizbeth exclaimed as I hopped down the massive dug out trench the golem had dug out.

"Draco, wait! You can't fight that thing by yourself it's too big!" Leafa called.

I stopped and turned around to face them, a determined smile on my face,"Don't worry about me." I winked and gave a thumbs up, making Leafa blush,"I'll be fine."

"At least let me come with you." Kirito said, walking up to the edge of the trench.

"Nah I got it." I replied, waving my hand in dismissal.

"But if you go, you'll die in real life!" he pressed, seemingly getting angry.

"So what." I shrugged,"It's not like I HAVE a life to go back to!"

"Draco stop!"

I stopped in my tracks and looked back to see Kirito wore a frustrated face, his teeth were clenched and his eyes blazed with determination of some sort."You can't do this alone! If you go alone you'll die!"

"And if you go with me NPC's will die." I retorted surprising him,"Look, the more we argue the closer that golem gets to the village I'm the only one who knows where its weakspots are," I pointed at the glowing purple dots on top of the head and the center of the shoulders, around the chest area,"If I destroy those weakspots I can kill it, if it gets to the village then we'll worry about killing it together right now you all need to get to the village, NOW!"

Kirito was quiet for a moment, but after a few seconds of uneasy silence he gave a small nod. I nodded in return and added,"Silica, take care of Fenrir. He'll get you to the village faster than just running."

"Ok." She said, nodding.

As I was preparing to head down the trench after the golem, I heard Yui call,"Be careful Uncle Draco!"

I stopped for a moment and called back without facing them,"I will squirt don't worry about me just get to the village."

I didn't look back to get a reply from her, instead I dashed down the trench with my almost maxed out Sprinting skill. Steadily catching up with the golem while leaving a cloud of dirt and dust behind me as I sped after it.

**Playing the hero are we,**The demonic voice of Malefor chuckled,**You always did play the solo hero.**

'Malefor!' I growled mentally,'Let me guess, this is your doing."

Malefor purred darkly,**Yes my dear boy. And might I say you are a master of the obvious. **

I frowned my eyebrows as Malefor continued,"**You think you can stop it, do YOU think YOU can play the hero. I believe you used those same words against Kazuto, correct?"**

I growled and kept moving but felt a shiver run down my spine as Malefor cackled evilly,"**Run run boy! Before it's too late and you,** I guess he had paused to smile because her finished in a malevolent growl,"**Fail to save your friends!"**

I growled and ran faster, whatever Malefor meant by that, I knew it was a ploy against Kirito.

The Golem was almost app-on the village, it was steadily stomping its walk to the river village nestled below the canyon close to the rockwall. The drop itself was at least 200 feet. As the Golem made its way towards the ledge I had finally made it towards the beast. I leaped up with a battle cry and sliced one of the minor weakpoints on its left calf, a glowing orange orb nestled inside the crystal constructs calf. With that done, the Golem groaned and looked down, lifting a foot to squash me but only revealed another weakpoint which I proceeded to leap up and stab making the golem groan again and staggered backwards, flailing its arms around as it landed with a mighty crash that felt as if it shook the whole game world.

XXX

"Holy crap!" I muttered, watching the golem fall backwards and land with a massive crash.

Asuna came up beside me, her sword drawn and a look of amazement across her face,"Geez, Kirito you weren't lying about this guy when it comes to playing the tough guy card!"

I smiled slightly and looked over at Asuna,"I told you, he's pretty strong."

"Yea well you didn't tell me he was OP!" Klein exclaimed, walking up beside me and Asuna with everyone else.

"No it's not that he's OP." I said, shaking my head,"At least, not that I think about it. He's had to be the strong tough guy when you think about it."

"And sarcastic." Sinon added, raising her bow.

I ignored her comment and went on,"But he's been trapped here for 4 years, he's grown accustom to his life here or what he remembers about it."

The NPC warriors around us began to get into their defensive positions as the golem got back on its feet, only a fraction of its 10 health bars were decreased by Draco's assault.

"Well I hope he's strong enough to handle that thing!" Sinon whispered,"Because if he can't…" she trailed off as Klein finished grimly while watching the fight,"He'll die for real."

I couldn't take it anymore. I wasn't going to watch this any longer. I have to do something. I lunged forward but was stopped by Asuna and Klein.

"Kirito don't!" Asuna exclaimed struggling to hold me back,"You won't be able to make it across the water without being snapped up by a water monster! At least let me cast a Water Walk spell!"

"Ok but hurry!" I said impatiently as the golem punched the ground, presumably at Draco, knocking a chunk out of the ledge making the massive piece of rock crash to the water with a loud and massive splash, sending a massive wave of water straight at us.

"Son of bitch!" I growled, slashing the wave out of the way with my sword as it came straight up to the balcony of the pier.

"There, now go!" Asuna said, as she casted the Water Walk spell.

Without hesitation, I dashed forward running straight over the water as I neared the canyon wall dodging surfacing water monsters that looked rather similar to crocodiles left and right eventually making it to the canyon wall and proceeded to wall run up it, gradually making it to the top to see Draco narrowly dodge an incoming fist attack by the golem.

He landed just 30 feet away from me and glanced back, seeing me he called,"About time you showed up!"

I smirked as I drew my sword,"I told you I'd make it!"

"Strike the glowing orbs around the body Kirito!" Draco informed, enveloping his sword Flametooth in fire as the golem roared down at us,"And try not to get killed."

"Same to you!" I fired back, preparing to fight the colossal boss as it lifted a fist to strike.

XXX

As the golems fist came crashing down, I quickly jumped out of the way narrowly missing the massive energy pulsing fist as it smashed a crater were I was last standing knocking rocks and dirt straight into the air. Kirto was next for an incoming attack as it swung the back of its hand at him in an attempt to back hand him but Kirito simply jumped over it and began to run across its massive arm striking several weakpoints on his way towards its head.

The titanic construct bellowed in pain and tried to smash Kirito with its other hand but missed as Kirito nimbly glided through its fingers and up its other arm, continuing his way towards its massive glowing purple weakspot, its critical weakpoint along with the chest.

'Show off!' I growled in my mind as I dodged another punch.

I proceed to run up its shin and as it reared its knee back, giving me more solid ground, I launched off its knee towards chest point. But as I neared the chest point, Kirito struck the golems critical weakpoint on its head causing a massive explosion of purple energy with orange electricity spouting about. The massive shockwave sent me and Kirito flying backwards sliding towards the ledge with a dangerous drop below and water monsters circling the surface of the water snapping their jaws hungrily while they waited for one of us to fall to our death below.

"Damn it!" Kirito cursed, grabbing his shoulder in pain as I noticed the shockwave had done a number on BOTH our healthbars sending them to warning yellow,"What the hell was that?"

I growled through clenched teeth as I stabbed my sword into the ground and housted myself to my knees, fighting to get to my feet with every inch of my virtual body aching everytime I moved. I looked up to see that the golem now had 5 healthbars left, not that that was a good thing.

"Destroying a golems critical weakpoints does bring it down faster but…" I paused, making Kirito look at me questioningly,"But what?"

"But it makes it really, really anger." I growled, watching as the golem rose out of the dust cloud its once critical weakpoint glowing white hot and its crystallized body had a purple transparent look with a orange white inner glow with electricity arching all over its body.

"Oh crap!" Kirito said, preparing to dodge an incoming attack.

The golem was charging an attack in its eye, I watched as energy began to course up through the body dimming the glow all over its body for only a moment before it unleashed a massive, orange white beam with white cosmic specks dancing in and along the beam as it came towards us.

"Watch out!" I yelled, dodging to the left while Kirito dodged to the right as the beam of destruction instantly destroyed where we were standing, turning it into a charred smoking crater.

Kirito had made a big mistake with his choice of direction as he dodged right into the hand swipe of the golem's next attack, not knowing that an angered golem can switch attacks on the fly. I looked back as Kirito gave a cry of pain and saw him sail straight over the edge and begin to fall towards the monster infested waters below.

"Kirito!" I yelled running to the ledge.

I watched as he at first began to freefall towards the water but quickly recovered and stabbed his sword into the side of the canyon wall, coming to a grinding halt just above the stew of monsters with only a sliver of bright red blinking health remaining in his HP bar and holding on with only one good arm as the other one appeared to be broken or popped out of place. He was beaten and battered pretty badly, his left shoulder was popped out of its socket and his forehead was busted open, pouring virtual blood out all over his face and cloths as a small village boat came towards him and killed the monsters circling around him before pulling him into the boat and back towards the village. Inside the boat, I saw Asuna on the verge of tears as she checked him worriedly and prepared to heal him before she cried out while looking straight at me,"Draco watch out!"

I quickly jerked my head around and saw the golems energy covered fist coming straight at me which I managed to dodge but barely. As the fist collided with the ground it unleashed an almost nuclear like explosion that caused some of the ledge beside me to split off and fall to the deep dark waters of the canyon river below. As I once again drew my sword and faced the monster as its glowing pulsing white hot eye covered me with a bright white light I heard voices pounding in my head saying things such as 'Death Code' and 'Will kill in real life'. Suddenly Malefor's ilk like voice began to speak inside my head but towards what I believe to be a pair of scientist in a vision,"**This Death Code I want installed, will it kill someone in real life?**

'_Yes Master, but may I be so bold to ask why you want this type of coding installed inside our monsters?'_

**For that brat Kazuto Kirigaya and his team of fools, he is in my way for total control over the human mind and I want him removed! Install it inside a Crystal Golem and send it on its way to Driftwood. If I am correct, our little hero will want to stop it and protect those NPC's. Not that it will matter.**

'_Master, what of this other boy? Draco is it, what of him? Should we…_

**No! I will deal with him myself… when the time is right. On an added note, install this moment inside the golem. I want him and that whelp Kazuto… to have a taste of my power!**

The vision suddenly ended in a murky cloud, causing me to feel disoriented and stunned. I was about to fall forward but I managed to stop myself by digging Flametooth into the ground, using it as a support. I looked up to see the golem looming over me with its unblinking energy pulsing eye, watching it as it began to charge another attack. I hissed through clenched teeth and dodged to the side rolling to the side out of the beams attack radius.

"Time to finish this big bastard off!" I growled dashing forward as the titan stood up at full height and prepared to unleash another beam attack.

I dashed forward at full speed, barely evading the beam attack as it trailed behind me. As the beam began cutting a deep trench right behind me, I launched upwards with my Leap skill and managed to stab the critical weakpoint causing the beast to bellow in pain and fall to its hands and knees as I yanked my blade out of the glowing orb. I slid backwards from the golem and glared right at it as it lifted its head and begin to charge another beam attack.

I frowned my eyebrows and tightened my grip around Flametooth and dashed towards the beast as the beam erupted out of the eye. Time seemed to slow as I sprinted straight towards the beam, igniting Flametooth on fire I drew it backwards and yelled a battle cry as I cleaved the beam in the center, splitting it in two directions and tossing the golems head back causing it's to rear up on its knees.

"KYAAAA!" I yelled, charging Flametooth to the max with its fire attack as I leaped up at the pulsing chestpoint.

Flametooth, instead of being covered with orange red fire, was completely covered with bright blue fire all around the blade which also enveloped me in a comet type attack. With all my mana and attack power, I smashed into the golem's chest, halted for only a moment before I smashed completely through its chest and exited out of its back in a fire explosion of blue fire and white orange energy, destroying the last 5 bars of health it had.

The golem groaned in pain and fell backwards. Holding its arms out as it flipped over the ledge, it tried to grab the ledge of the cliff but the cliff side gave out from all the damage it had received combined with the massive weight of the golem. The golem fell, freefalling as it came speeding down to the water below with a massive chunk of the cliff following right after it.

With a large splash the golem landed into the deep water then the large chunk of the cliff came down right after it creating a giant tsunami.

Time once again, slowed. I was falling. I glanced up at my health bar and saw it had receded to red, and my mana was completely drained but was slowly regenerating. Then, in fell into the water of the river. I guess I had fallen off the cliff with the golem but I didn't remember I was… to tired. I glanced down tiredly to see a crocodile type monster that read **Dinocroc** swimming straight towards me, its yellow primordial eyes glinted hungrily as it neared. I frowned my eyebrows, and gripped Flametooth. Managing to give a warning slash with Flametooth covered in fire. It boiled the water around me and gave a bright orange flash that startling the beast. It gave a distorted hiss due to being underwater and swam away, thrashing its long scaly tail violently as it sped away.

I sighed mentally and sheath Flametooth, another monster taken care of. I glanced up at the surface of the water and saw the light of the setting sun dancing around the water. My instinctive need for air drove me to swim towards the surface, I kicked my feet and began to steadily make my way to the surface from what I could tell, with the others waiting anxiously for me to surface.

XXX

"Do you see him?" I asked, looking into the depths of the water for Draco to surface.

"No." Asuna answered looking along the surface around the area he landed last.

"I can't believe it." Leafa whispered, staring at the body of the golem sticking up out of the water in amazement,"He… he killed it."

"Yea it was amazing!" Klein agreed.

"Did you see the way he finished it!" Lizbeth exclaimed, completely floored.

"He was amazing, just like you said Kirito." Silica squeaked.

Sinon nodded,"It was quite impressive."

I continued to glance around the water's surface worriedly, did he…die?

"Where is he?" Leafa asked, looking along the surface worriedly.

"I don't see him." Sinon reported, looking along the edge of the river towards the waterfall. I could tell she too was growing worried.

Suddenly, Draco erupted from the water just infront of us gasping for air and coughing. We all sighed in relief. He's alright.

XXX

I pulled my wet hair out of my eyes and look up to see everyone's relieved faces. Kirito bent down with a smile on his face,"Need a hand?"

I smiled slightly and took Kirito's hand, hauling myself out of the water."Dude! You were freaking awesome!" Klein crowed,"The way you turned into a comet and killed that thing was incredible!"

He placed his hand on my shoulder which caused it to buckle under the tiny amount of weight Klein had in his hand making me yelp,"Shoulder! Shoulder!"

"Oh, sorry man!" Klein apologized instantly pulling away from me.

I hissed through clenched teeth and rubbed my aching shoulder,"Your cool it just smarts from the fight."

Kirito glanced up at my health bar and gave a small sigh,"Your health is low; you'll need to heal before we get going."

"You about to log out?" I asked straightening myself.

Kirito nodded,"Yea, we'll all have too. It's 9 pm back in IRL and we have school tomorrow." He summoned his menu and asked,"You need a potion to heal you?"

I was about to shake my head when Leafa timidly peeped,"I… I can take care of that."

I looked over at her questioningly as I saw her hands become enveloped in bright green light and gently touch my shoulder, healing it on contact. I smiled and looked up at Leafa who wore a bright red face as I said,"Thank you."

"N-No problem." She stuttered looking away with a small smile.

The sharp pain in my shoulder had disappeared as did the soreness all over my body thatnks to Leafa healing me, I had to say, she was pretty reliable. Suddenly, a message appeared infront of me. 2 infact.

A message from Malefor and a quest objective. I read Malefore's message first of course, frowning my eyesbrows as I read the message.

**My, my, an impressive display of heroism and might I say with a flare as well, so you defeated one of my spawn. I commend you but the rest won't be so easy to find or defeat. I presume you got the memory of my little discussion with my servants, good. To sum it up, this kill code, is designed to activate the microwave emitters in the NerveGear of someone's brain when I install it inside one of my monsters programming and they kill them. How do I get away with this without getting into trouble with the law you might ask. Simple. I have it specifically designed to target an individual person's avatar, NerveGear AND brainwaves meaning your little friends can't escape my gaze or code by changing avatars. Good luck Draco, your just getting started.**

As I finished and looked up from the message, I saw Kirito walk up to me wearing a serious face as he said,"Malefor."

I nodded and transferred the message to him, watching him and the others read it and grow troubled by its words.

"Great!" Klein chuckled nervously after Sinon transferred the message back to me after she was finished reading it,"We got a super smart evil genius after us that has actually installed a code inside his monsters that is designed to kill US only! Perfect!"

"What do we do now?" Sinon asked Kirito, clearly seeing his concerned face.

Kirito was trapped deep in thought, thinking long and hard. I sighed and interrupted his thoughts jerking his and the others attention to me as I said,"Simple, don't come back."

"What?" Asuna whispered,"No were not letting you fight this guy alone!"

"Well it seems you don't have a choice do you sweet cheeks!" I growled growing irritated.

Asuna growled and stepped up to me. Grabbing my shoulder and bringing my face towards her stern hard face,"We are not letting you fight Malefor alone so stop acting like a stubborn ass and let us help you!"

Asuna's courage really surprised me, not to mention she called me a stubborn ass but I'll get her back for that. Everyone else except Kirito who wore an impressed smile was shocked by her behavior. I eventually recovered from my shock and yanked my shoulder out of her grip."Damn it you subborn woman don't you understand I'm trying to keep you all from dying!" I growled surprising her for a moment but again she pressed,"Well whether you like it or not were with you!"

I was… stunned. Speechless.

Leafa was the first to speak,"Were with you until the end!"

"Yea," Lizbeth pipped up, jumping in,"You have our support, let us help you!"

"Me too!" Silica added.

"Same here!" Klein called.

"And me as well." Sinon said, smiling while crossing her arms.

I grew quiet, watching them all as the NPC's began to gather around us. Probably to thank us for saving their village. Then, Yui jumped out of Kirito's breast pocket and hugged my waist,"You and daddy are brothers isn't that right?" he sudden question floored me and surprised the others but they eventually grew soft smiles as the AI girl added,"I mean, at least the data I read says that the uncle of someone is the brother of that said persons mommy or daddy."

I stared down at her with a soft smile and rested a hand ontop of her head, petting her head,"Yui…" I started gaining a questioning look from her and the others,"You don't need to be kin someone to be family. It's all in here and here." I said tapping her head, meaning her mind, and her chest, for her heart.

She was surprised and confused by my comment, while the others were floor by my "sudden wisdom" and she smiled,"Well if I didn't know better Uncle Draco, you sounded like an old wise man just now."

I frowned and rubbed the kids head,"Your learning well squirt, taking after your uncle that's for sure! Pretty soon I will teach you the art of bad language with a secret dose of sarcasm."

"Oh no!" Asuna exclaimed making the others laugh,"You are not teaching my daughter bad language!"

"What?! It's bleeped out, well the really, really bad words!" I said defensively holding my hands up.

While letting that moment simmer down a bit, I decided to focus on the current objective I just got. It read,** Investigate the Golems body**

'This should be good.' I muttered to myself jumping onto one of the boats docked along the pier. The others followed behind me as we came close to the body, then, I suddenly saw a glowing orb hover above the golem. It was another memory, except the orb was glowing white with orange energy along it.

"Another memory." I whispered surprising the others except Kirito.

"So…" Leafa said, watching the orb curiously,"That's one of your memories?"

"Yea." I answered, stepping onto the golems body. As I slowly made my way close to the orb, I stuck my hand out and touched it suddenly wrecked with pain as the orb glowed brightly making my eyes and mouth glow pure white with an orange aura around the glow.

I… remembered my family. Our last name was Michaelson, and… we lived in the city of Dallas Texas. Another memory came to me, a memory of my imprisonment inside Drekiheim with Malefor cackling in the dark,**You'll never escape boy and your parents… have died in a car "accident"! **I could tell he was lying by accident because he cackled evilly as a news report appeared infront of my face in my cell that read Debi and James Michaelson had been the recent victims of a violent terroristic attack, killing them both while leaving there "comatosed son" who is still waiting to be revived from the NerveGear and youngest daughter without a family or a home! Finally, the memories stopped.

I fell backwards, gasping for breath.

"Draco!" Kirito called, getting up to catch me but I regained my footing and managed to only stumble backwards.

"That son of bitch!" I whispered earning a curious stare from Kirito. I looked over at him with a look of disbelief,"My parents… died in a car accident!"

Kirito softened his eyes in sympathy but widened them as I growled,"I'm going to kill that son of bitch!'

I pulled my gaze away from him and the others and stared up at the energy beam pulsing in the center of the gameworld, the world tree of Drekiheim, Malefor's Lair from what I last remembered,"He's going to die!" I growled surprising the others.

Then, I felt a small shaky hand grab my tightened fist making me jerk around and see Yui gazing up at me in concern and worry,"Uncle Draco…"

I sighed and forced a smile as I reassured her,"I'm fine just… tired from remembering is all."

Yui smiled back, clearly reassured by my smile. Suddenly, a message appeared infront of my face

**Congratulations**

**You have leveled up to level 54**

**You have the following items**

**1x Crystal Sword of Convexity **

**Learned the magic skill tree of Convexity **

**Bonus skill of Convexity, 500 mana and 75% mana recovery**

While I was too busy being surprised by seeing that I had learned Convexity, I heard Kirito say,"Wow, you level up quick just yesterday you were level 46."

"I'm a busy guy while your all gone at school." I shrugged,"Hey Kirito, hows that sword of yours. I think you broke it grinding it into the canyon wall right."

Kirito shrugged and slouched his shoulders."Yea." he confirmed,"Why?"

"Catch." I said, tossing him the Sword of Convexity.

As soon as he caught the transparent blade with an orange inner, his eyes sparked and a happy grin stretched across his face.

"Wow." Sinon said, walking up beside me,"I haven't seen him this happy since he got Excalibur."

"Figured I owed you a new sword you." I said smiling as he gave it a few test swings.

"Its heavy, awesome and its attack is very high 147." He stopped and eyed the sword curiously,"Hey Draco, wheres the Convexity enchantment why won't it activate like Flametooth."

I sighed and took the blade from him."Because Convexity is much more powerful and way different then other enchantment or element. To activate it, aim it and…" I aimed the tip of the blade to the sky and unleash a powerful pulsing orange white beam with a hint of purple inside the pulsing energy completely surprising Kirito and the others.

"Ah hell yea!' Kirito chuckled aiming the blade and unleashing another energy beam.

"But be careful doing that." I explained as he admired the blade,"It'll drain all your mana in a single shot, meaning you'll have to wait for it to regenerate to fire another blast."

"Noted." Kirito almost like a dis as he fired another beam.

I sighed and shook my head, good god this guys a maniac around weapons."By the way, why'd you give this thing to me?" Kirito asked, finally pulling himself out of his weird power hungry attitude.

I smirked and held my hand out making them look questioningly at me until I shot a thin narrow bluish white beam into the sky, surprising them."Cuz I already know Convexity."

"Wow." Leafa said, admiring the bright blue beam with a white inner core"It's really pretty."

"Uh, thanks." I said making her blush,"Um, I-."

I chuckled and waved my hands as I finished firing the beam,"No it's cool. I know what you meant."

Although I reassured her she still wore that odd blush. Does she like me? Nah! Doubt it.

"Well," Kirito said stretching,"We best get home. Its 10 now so we'll see you tomorrow at 4 pm after schools out Ok."

"Got it." I smiled, nodding.

I waved goodbye to them from atop Fenrirs back, watching as the disappeared into a flash of light and were then gone. Yui had transformed into a pixie and then back into a girl as she landed infront of me onto Fenrir's back."Ready to get going squirt?"

"Mm hm." She nodded smiling, ready to get moving.


End file.
